Four Houses
by Wazzie
Summary: A story about a group of friends starting their first year at Hogwarts. Set 2 years after the end of Deathly Hallows. New characters, almost 100% cannon, a couple of small things changed.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Running forwards at full pelt, Liam collided into a rather large woman, knocking both of them and a rather large amount of luggage crashing down around them. A teenage boy had suggested that he take the trip through the barrier at Platform 9¾ at a run since he was feeling nervous, but he hadn't counted on someone being stood right where he came out.

Apologising profusely, he quickly stood up and started picking up the dropped luggage, dusting off the suitcases the woman had been holding and trying to ignore the giggles of people who had witness the scene. After checking she was okay, he picked up his suitcase and rushed off, mentally scolding himself for making an idiot of himself already. Checking his watch, he noticed it was 10:50, remembering the train was leaving at 11, he set off towards the train and lugged his suitcase up the steps. Once inside he started to wander down it, looking for an empty compartment, or at least one with someone inside who looked up for a laugh.

Around halfway along the train he noticed a rather cute looking young girl sitting alone playing with a strange purple creature, curiosity getting the better of him, he stopped to look. The girl had long wavy brown hair, with matching big brown eyes. Her face was rather thin, and although she was already dressed in he school robes he could see her body was the same. He estimated that she would be around three or four inches shorter than him, though he was tall for his age at almost 5 foot.

Liam checked his reflection in the glass, rubbed off the dirt he could see from the earlier collision and ran his fingers through his medium length black hair trying to smooth it out. He noticed his pale blue eyes were slightly bloodshot due to the lack of sleep the night before, he was just to excited about today to be able to sleep.

Looking back towards the girl, he noticed she was staring right at him, and blushing again, he reached forwards and grabbed the door taking a seat inside.

"Was there any particular reason you were staring at me?" The girl asked. Blushing again Liam tried to think quickly for an excuse, finding one he answered.

" I was just looking at your um...thingie" He blushed again realising how that sounded.

"It's called a Pygmy Puff" she said, before giggling at his obvious discomfort. "I called it Mike, though I'm worried now that it might be a male...I'm not really sure how to tell"

"Well there must be some way to tell" He laughed at the thought of a female pet called Mike "I'm Liam by the way. Liam Spencer." He said, offering his hand out "And who might you be?"

"Devin Swain" She replied, offering her hand back, blushing as he took it and kissed it

"Beautiful name for a beautiful girl" He teased, laughing at the blush on her face. They sat in a slightly awkward silence for a few seconds, neither knowing what to say next. Turning back to the Pygmy Puff "Did you try asking your parents what little Mike might be?" Liam asked, fishing for information about her, "Or are they muggles like mine?"

"Yeah they're muggles too" She replied "I'm glad I'm not the only one here with muggle parents, I was worried I might be. My aunt is a witch though, but my mum only told me that after I got my letter. She was really excited by it. I guess she always felt left out when her sister went off to learn magic and she's happy I got the chance I got to go"

"Oh so your a first year like me? Must have been easy for your parents to accept it all since they all ready knew"

"Yup, I would have had no idea how to tell them otherwise, how about your parents, how did they take it?"

"Well..." He drawled, wondering how to phrase it "They don't technically know..."

"What! How? Did you run away? Wont they notice your not there anymore" She was rather shocked at the young boy sat opposite her.

"My parents were never around always to busy working to have any time for me, I was brought up by my nanny, I was being sent to boarding school this year anyway, and I just...got on a different train, my dad dropped me off and didn't stick around to check. I got my nanny to send a letter to the school explaining what was going on, and they let me order my school supplies by owl". He explained. "They never have to know".

"But what if you get caught?" She asked, still horrified.

Liam was saved from answering the last question as a smiling, dimpled woman stuck her head around the door,

"Would you like anything off the cart?"

Liam jumped up towards her, grateful of the distraction and bought a pumpkin pie, as well as a rather large amount of sweets. He didn't fancy an interrogation given the lack of sleep he had the night before.

"You getting anything?" He asked Devin, turning round to smile at her

"Nah I brought my own lunch with me, thanks anyway". The woman smiled, bid them goodbye and carried onto the next carriage. Liam sat down again and started to munch on his pie, watching Devin as she pulled a sandwich out of a plastic bag next to her. She Stared down at the floor as she ate apparently lost in thought. She looked up as she finished and noticed him staring at her again. She blushed as he winked at her, laughing.

"Are you trying to flirt with me?" She asked, grinning.

"Maybe, maybe not" He teased, laughing he unwrapped a packet of sweets "Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans" He read out loud "Want one?"

"Eww no. I had some of those when I went to Diagon Ally last week, some of the flavours were awful" She said pulling a face.

"Oh come on, they can't be that bad" He popped one in his mouth. Devin burst out laughing at the look of disgust now on his face. Liam quickly spat the bean back out into his hand, frantically looking round for the drink he bought off the trolly.

"What did you get?" she managed to ask through fits of laughter "I did warn you".

"Chilli. Really, really, hot Chilli!" He spluttered in between swigs of pumpkin juice. He put the sweets to the side, not daring to try another and depositing the half eaten bean in the napkin that came with his pie.

"Maybe one of these will take the taste away" Devin said, handing him a bag of sweets she had pulled out the carrier bag. Liam took one, eyeing it suspiciously

"What is it?" He asked, eyeing up the sweet, it was a black skull with a green snake curling out it's mouth.

"I'm not really sure, I got them in a joke shop in Diagon Ally, the tub said Edible Dark Marks but I'm not sure what that is. I guess we'll find out at some point soon though". She popped one in her mouth, and Liam, after seeing nothing bad happen to her followed suit.

"So what's Diagon Ally like then? I never got a chance to go" He said, sucking on his sweet "I'm hoping I'll get to go soon though"

"It's umm, wizardy" She glared at him, "Stop laughing!"

"Sorry, just... Wizardy?"

"I didn't get to stay there long, and it was a bit overwhelming, everywhere was busy and everyone was wearing robes and there was magic everywhere. The shops I went in just had school supplies and things, and weren't really that interesting. I'd love to be able to go back and explore the other shops there though, some looked really interesting".

"We'll go together then" He said smiling at her "You can show me around". He said, flashing her a big smile. "So where are you from anyway?" He asked, starting up the conversation again "I'm from Cambridge"

"Liverpool" She replied "It's..." She started to say before being interrupted by an older girl sticking her head around the door. Noticing the prefect badge, they both turned to see what she wanted

"Just letting you know we'll be there in about 20 minuets, so you'll want to get changed into your school robes before we get there" The prefect told them, before walking off to the next carriage to tell the next group of students.

Liam stared at Devin for a few moments, before she realised with a start what he wanted, laughing and covering her eyes. He opened his suitcase and pulled out a set of slightly creased robes.

"No peeking" He teased, before quickly changing out of his jeans and t-shirt into his robes.

"Nice boxers" Devin teased, laughing through a gap in her fingers at the look of horror on his face,

"I said NO PEEKING!" he flustered, quickly pulling the robes over his head, trying to smooth out the creases while glaring at the girl in front of him.

"Oh comon, tell me you wouldn't do the same thing if you had the chance" She giggled, ignoring the dirty looks he was shooting her.

He sat pretending to sulk for the next few minutes, until they felt the train shudder to a halt. He watched her out the corner of his eye gather her things together. She moved in front of him and held out her hand,

"Truce?" She asked

"Oh go on then" He took her hand, accepting with a grin "We better go find out where we're going" He grabbed his suitcase and they walked out on to the platform together.

Looking around confused, trying to work out what was going on, they followed the flow of the crowd of students, looking for someone to ask for help, until they heard a booming voice cry out,

"Firs' years, this way firs' years, follow me"

They turned to look at each other, intimidated by the large giant of a man stood in front of them. Trembling slightly, Devin slipped her hand into Liam's.

__________

**This is my first time writing anything longer than a couple of pages in around 5 years so I'm still getting back into it. Any feedback on ways to improve this will be very helpful :)**

**I'm hoping to update this around once a week, but it should be a bit more often to start with to get it going.  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The Giant introduced himself as Hagrid, the Care of Magical creatures teacher. The two new friends turned to face each each other grinning, the thought of magical creatures exciting them greatly. They had been following the giant down a narrow path, an excited Liam pushed his way to front of the group to ask Hagrid more, dragging Devin with him. His earlier fear of the man was gone, replaced by shear joy.

"What sort of magical creatures are there?" Liam asked, panting slightly from the effort to keep up with Hagrid's giant strides.

"All sorts, vampires, unicorns, centaurs, 'undreds of creatures" Hagrid replied, happy a student was taking an interest in his favourite subject.

"Will we get to learn about them all? When do classes start? Will you be teaching us? Are vampires really real?" Liam asked, in his excitement not noticing he hadn't given the man a chance to answer anything. Hagrid simply laughed,

"All in good time kid, you'll learn it all in good time. Now keep an eye out, you'll be able to see the castle in a second".

The narrow path had come to an end, giving way to a large lake that looked almost black in the twilight, about twenty boats were bobbing in the gentle breeze tied up at the shore. Liam and Devin stood gazing at the huge castle in front of them. They had been expecting it to look a bit more, well, like a school.

"Right everyone, get in groups, we're sailing across, no more than four to a boat" Hagrid called out to the group, climbing into the first boat himself. Liam quickly dived in next to him, hoping to talk more with the giant, and Devin, not wanting to be left alone followed him.

"FORWARD!" Hagrid cried once everyone was safely inside and the fleet of boats set sail together.

Unfortunately for Liam, Hagrid was too busy keeping an eye on the other boats to be able to talk much, so he sat back and admired the view as they crossed the lake towards the castle.

"HEADS DOWN!" The giant cried again as they reached a cliff, the boats travelled one by one down a narrow path through the cliff face leading to an underground harbour. Once everyone was out the boats and Hagrid had checked them to make sure nothing was left behind, he led the first years students up the stone steps to the castle door.

Hagrid knocked loudly on the large wooden door. Almost instantly the door swung open, and a tall elderly witch stood looking at them.

"Come inside, line up over there" She told them. Liam noticed she sounded very authoritative, her straight black robes giving the impression of an important person. she had a stern look on her face made more noticeable by her black hair tied tightly up in a bun. Once they had lined up the witch continued,

"I am Professor McGonagall, Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

The first year students instantly stood up a little straighter and paid attention, wanting to make a good first impression. Professor McGonagall flashed a small smile at the students

"Welcome to Hogwarts,"She continued "The start of term feast will be starting shortly, but first you will need to be sorted into your houses." She noticed their worried faces, "Don't be alarmed, the Sorting Ceremony is nothing to be afraid of, you will simply be chosen to go into one of the four houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin."

After finishing her speech, she lead the first years into a large hall, lining them up along a wall. The Great Hall, as the Headmistress had called it, was a long wide hall, with 4 large tables running along it, filled with students. There was a fifth table running at a right angle at the far end of the hall, which seemed to be a staff table, as most of the seats were now occupied by adults. Nervous at the whole school looking at them, Devin slipped her hand back into Liam's. He shuffled closer to her.

"Did you aunt tell you anything about the houses?" He whispered

"No, but I do remember her once saying she was in Ravenclaw. I'm not really sure what it all means though".

They whispered to each other, wondering what houses they would be in, not really paying attention to what was going on around them.

"Well I think I want to be in...OW! what was that for?", he whirled round to the boy next to him, "Why did you poke me?" The boy pointed to a rather cross looking Professor McGonagall looking right at him.

"Spencer, Liam" She snapped "Or do I need to call you a third time?".

Blushing Liam ran up towards her, siting on the stool she pointed at. She placed a hat upon his head which slipped down and covered his face. Thankful that his blush was now hidden from the staring faces, he heard a voice come from inside,

"Hmm, I'm not sure where to put you" The hat said "You could fit in anywhere really, very adaptable". Liam grinned at the compliment. "Is there anywhere you would like to go?" The hat asked him.

"I'm not sure, what are the house names again?" He replied.

"Such cheek" The hat teased, "I think you'll do well in..."

"SLYTHERIN" The hat called out to the room.

Liam jumped up off the stool, placing the hat down, and headed towards the table that was clapping, albeit rather unenthusiastically. He sat down in an empty seat and turned to watch the rest of the sorting.

"Swain, Devin" Professor McGonagall called out. Liam watched his friend sit down on the stool and laughed at the small jump she made, he guessed she wasn't expecting the hat to talk, it had startled him a little at first. He sat waiting, holding his breath hoping Devin would be put in the same house as him, his heart breaking just a few seconds later as the hat screamed,

"Gryffindor!"

He watched as she walked to sit at the table furthest away from him, wishing she would turn to look at him but she was too busy greeting her new housemates.

"What you staring at a Gryff for?" One of the older boys asked with a sneer.

"She's my friend" Liam protested. The older boy snorted and turned away.

Soon the Sorting Ceremony was over, only three other first years had been sorted into Slytherin, two girls and another boy. Liam watched the headmistress walk to her place at the staff table at the end of the hall. Before she sat down she addressed the students,

"A notice to the first year students, your house placement is very important. You will, eat at your house table, sleep in your house dormitories, and spend your free time in your house commonroom. Your classes will mostly be divided up by house too"

Liam's face fell, how would he ever get to see Devin if they were both forced to spend all their time with their own houses.

"Students will gain housepoints for doing well within the school, while misbehaving will cause you to lose housepoints. The house with the most points at the end of the year will win the house cup. Now, I think that's the basics covered. Lets eat!".

With Professor McGonagall's last words the empty plates on the tables filled with a variety of different foods. He served himself some sausage and mash and spent the rest of the feast sulking in silence, while occasionally attempting to catch Devin's eye.

Once the feast ended, and not a moment to soon in Liam's opinion, a Slytherin Prefect walked over to his four new housemates and told them to follow him. He lead them out the great hall, and down towards the dungeons, stopping at a solid brick wall.

"This is the entrance to the Slytherin commonroom and dormitories. You need the password to get in, never tell it to anyone from another house." The prefect told them, turning to face the wall " Slithering Snake."

A stone door appeared in the wall and slid open, the group of five walked inside and the door slid shut behind them.

Liam looked around the commonroom, it was quite long with a low ceiling, the walls were rough stone. The low lighting from the greenish lamps hanging by chains not quite reaching the corners of the room, giving the room a spooky feeling. Liam walked towards a large ornate carved fireplace, and sat in one of the many high backed armchairs facing it, glad of the heat.

He looked round at the other students, most sitting around in groups, catching up events over the summer. He wished Devin was here with me, and wondered what her commonroom would be like. He had seen her group walking up the stairs somewhere and wondered if she had a nice view. Maybe he would be able to sneak her in here, or sneak in to her commonroom to visit her.

"First years, bed time!" a prefect called out. The four new students jumped up to follow him to their beds. The prefect led them to one of the dark corners of the commonroom, where they found a hidden corridor entrance. It was only around ten feet long, and in the middle were two doors opposite each other. The prefect led them down to the doors and told them this was where they would be sleeping. Upon the stone doors were carved wooden plaques, the one to the left read 'First Year Girls' the one on the right 'First Year Boys'.

The prefect ushered the students into their own rooms and walked off again, leaving Liam and the other Slytherin boy explore the room they would be living in for the next year.

It was rather a large room, more brightly lit than the commonroom which he was grateful for, as he had been worrying about his eyesight. There was another carved fireplace in the room, though it was smaller than the one in the commonroom, it was just as striking. Two beds were positioned on either side of the room with green and silver curtains hanging off rails around them. Next to each bed was a wooden chest of draws, with a tray on top, containing a glass and a jug of water. Against the far wall, were two desks, with lanterns above them, presumably one each for doing their work. A shelf was mounted above each desk to keep their school books on.

Liam looked down onto the stone floor, and noticed that there were several patches of stone that looked less worn, around the same size as their beds. He guessed that the room used to contain around 10 beds rather than two and wondered what had changed.

Finding his luggage at the foot of the right hand bed, he walked over and sat down on it, happy that his was closer to the fire as the dungeons seemed to have a damp chill that lingered about. Pulling the curtains shut around him, he got ready for bed, leaving his unpacking till the morning.

**Yay someone added my story to their alert already :) thank you. Still finding my feet with writing so any feedback anyone has will be much appreciated **


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